Today’s quick review: The Little Prince. To get into a prestigious school and secure a successful future, a little girl (Mackenzie Foy) must spend her summer following the strict schedule laid out by her mother (Rachel McAdams). The only wrinkle in the plan is her eccentric neighbor, an aging aviator (Jeff Bridges) who tells the girl a fanciful story about the Little Prince (Riley Osborne), a boy on a journey away from his asteroid home.
The Little Prince is an animated fantasy adventure based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The movie is set in a drab, conformist world where everyone spends their lives toiling to get ahead. Its story follows a little girl as she is introduced to a world of color and wonder by the aviator who lives next door. Fantastic artistry and a rich and insightful story make The Little Prince a gorgeous film, both visually and tonally.
The Little Prince is an artistic masterpiece. Everything contributes to the whole, from the details of the set designs to the way the characters move and react. The girl’s house is prim, proper, and satisfyingly organized, but the aviator’s house offers something more: a chaos of colorful trinkets that all have their own stories behind them. The film also seems to know just the right way to present its world for maximum effect.
The Little Prince goes even further with its art for the Prince’s story. His adventures are adapted from the original book, traveling from asteroid to asteroid and eventually ending up stranded on Earth. The film depicts his journey with charming stop-motion animation that mimics the art style of the book. The Little Prince also does an excellent job of weaving together the old story and the new one, so that neither one is given short shrift.
The subtler and more enduring accomplishments of the film come from its story. The Little Prince works at multiple levels. What begins as a satire of the regimented, stifling drive for success seen in the modern world gives way to a heartfelt story about love, imagination, and coping with loss. Yet the real heart of the film lies even deeper: mature themes and unspoken wounds that are handled with incredible tact.
The Little Prince is a beautiful film whose art, story, and acting come together to create a magnificent whole. Not only is it a pleasant experience on its surface, but its artistic detail and layers of meaning reward the audience for paying closer attention. Its specific style will not appeal to everyone, and its story requires a certain amount of sentimentality to appreciate, but its high quality makes it well worth a watch for almost anyone.
For a stop-motion fantasy adventure that deals with similar themes through a more unsettling story, try Coraline. For a darker and more adult film about a man weaving a fantastic story for a little girl, try The Fall. For a science fiction movie where Jeff Bridges saves a child from an emotionless world, try The Giver. For a more down-to-earth movie about tall tales and adventure, try Secondhand Lions.
[7.7 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754656/). I give it an 8.0 for beautiful artistry and a moving story.